Toronto Royal Ontario Museum | ?m | ?s | Daniel Libeskind

You see it everywhere. Whiners complain ... it's easy to find where Londoners are complaining about their awful city, and their awful transit. And New Yorkers doing the same; and here in Toronto, we keep pointing to those two cities, saying if only the TTC could do as good as them.
 
Something to consider re Whoaccio's venting on the ROM's neighbours a few posts back: from what I can tell from a superficial search, the primary web presence of "Will Hoaccio" is as a serial commentator to the Star, the G&M, etc.

Really? Can you link to these? My screen name an onomatopoeia of a sneeze (whoo-ahh-shoo), so I'd be curious to actually learn of someone called it.

In any case, you must be either a real looser or incredibly petty to run background checks because someone who disagrees with on, ultimately an unimportant forum (no offense UT...). Seriously man, get a life.
 
Ohh yea, adma got me. I'm actually a pedophile too. Not only a pedophile mind you, a pedophile that reads The Sun.

Tremble before adma, Nancy Drew of the intrawebs.


...get a life. You're only making yourself look like a paranoid fool at this point. And all for defending the Hyatt of all things, a building more boring than a tree stump.
 
http://whoaccio.deviantart.com/

Apparently Will Hoaccio also goes by the nickname Whoaccio on deviantart. Small world.
:p

In all fairness I couldn't care less. The saying "doth protest too much" came to mind and the curiosity got the best of me. I just think its funny really. No harm meant.
 
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Jesus, for all I know adma made that. Give the stalker-esque nature of this all I'm pretty much looking out my balcony.
 
Virtual Tourist.com has named the Crystal addition to the ROM as the 8th ugliest building in the world in it's 2nd Annual "World's Ugliest Building" list. The Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea made number 10.


What I.M. Pei’s pyramid is to the Louvre, so is the relatively new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal to the Royal Ontario Museum.
While many praise the glass structure, just as many are troubled by the incongruity to the original, more traditional museum that still sits directly beside it.

I'm not providing a link because they ask for your email address to get rid of a pop-up, you can Google it if you want to read more.

I.M. Pei's pyramid, Libeskind's Crystal, and Kim Jong Il's Ryugyong Hotel? Those 3 are some of my favourite structures any where. I guess I like ugly things. :cool:
 
Honestly, Whoaccio, when one looks at the broader picture these days, what kind of person is going to share your sentiment that the Park Hyatt and the Church Of the Redeemer are disposable, or better off disposed of?!?

Tell me. Who?

Who's in your camp?

Who can you rally into your camp?

Yeah, sure, maybe you can offer a Goldwateresque "in their heart, they know you're right" excuse, that your fellow travellers are hounded/shouted out and away by some elite special-interest minority. But it doesn't make your side any more attractive. So, really, it's little different from the dilemma faced by most serial Star/Globe board posters.

Hey, there's nothing like a well-tuned "paranoid fool" to bring out the pot/kettle/black in others. "Get a life"? This is the life.

http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Frank_Grimes
 
Honestly, Whoaccio, when one looks at the broader picture these days, what kind of person is going to share your sentiment that the Park Hyatt and the Church Of the Redeemer are disposable, or better off disposed of?!?

Tell me. Who?

Who's in your camp?

Who can you rally into your camp?

Certainly not I. Heaven forbid that I ever display such a primitive insensitivity toward fine examples of local historic architecture. You've got this bird pegged, Adma.
 
Not sure if this is posted but..

Toronto's ROM Crystal on Ugliest Buildings ListSource: CBC News

A conspicuous addition to Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum has made it onto a tourism website's annual list of the "World's Top 10 Ugly Buildings."

The Michael Lee-Chin Crystal sits at No. 8 on the list compiled by VirtualTourist.com.

The website said in a Friday posting that although "many praise that glass structure, just as many are troubled by the incongruity to the original, more traditional museum that still sits directly beside it."

The addition, designed by Polish-born architect Daniel Libeskind, was opened to the public in June 2007.

Editors and members of VirtualTourist.com drew up the list of shame, topped by a now-vacant theatre in Baltimore:



Morris A. Mechanic Theater, Baltimore, Md.


Zizkov Television Tower; Prague.


The Beehive, Wellington, New Zealand.


Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.


Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia.


Petrobras headquarters, Rio de Janeiro.


Markel Building, Richmond, Va.


Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.


National Library, Pristina; Kosovo.


Ryugyong Hotel, Pyongyang


“Many of these buildings don’t have the warmth of an ice cube while others don’t even seem completed," Giampiero Ambrosi, general manager of VirtualTourist.com, said in a statement. "Either way, they make for very interesting conversation.â€

Last year, the first year of the ugly buildings list, the website put Boston's City Hall at the top.
 
Certainly not I. Heaven forbid that I ever display such a primitive insensitivity toward fine examples of local historic architecture. You've got this bird pegged, Adma.

Well, in UT, I know of at least one other individual who might--Ladies Mile--though in his case, I'd categorize the so-called insensitivity more as "fine-tuned" than as "primitive"...
 
Meanwhile ...

Michael Lee-Chin Crystal Cited as Architectural Marvel

Eyewitness Travel Book recognizes Royal Ontario Museum as one of six buildings to rival Australia's Sydney Opera House ***

The book Off the Tourist Trail: 1,000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives, names the Royal Ontario Museum’s (ROM) Michael Lee- Chin Crystal, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, as one of the world’s architectural marvels and one of six modern buildings to rival Australia’s Sydney Opera House.

Prefaced by famed American author Bill Bryson and published in fall 2009 by Dorling Kindersley (DK) as part of its Eyewitness series, the book praises the highly successful Renaissance ROM project, the Museum's renovation and expansion project, and Libeskind’s design. It states “with the recent Renaissance Royal Ontario Museum project wowing critics all over the world, it is the museum’s ability to reinvent itself that has impressed connoisseurs of architecture.†The other modern buildings mentioned include Neue Zollof in Germany, Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain, 30 St. Mary Axe (The Gherkin) in the UK, Turning Torso in Sweden and Casa da Música in Portugal.

“This massive renovation and expansion initiative is highlighted by the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, a new angular facing designed by the highly respected architect Daniel Libeskind. By stepping into the 21st century with such a wonderful renovation, the museum is a shining example of how modern architecture can reinterpret and reinvigorate even the oldest of buildings,†the book states. The ROM’s inclusion in this publication follows the entry of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal in Condé Nast Traveler’s 2008 list of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

“Daniel Libeskind’s work at the ROM constitutes a radical shift in the status quo from most of the architecture we know. It presents a new concept of form and space, a new face of beauty in the field, a new presence in the cityscape. Many people are thrilled to experience it, as we see in a 60 per cent increase in ROM attendance since its completion, and the vitality it has brought to Toronto’s precinct of Bloor Street and Avenue Road. The Michael Lee-Chin Crystal has won accolades around the world for its design and effectiveness for this Museum in the contemporary age. Great cities must have the power to originate, and Toronto has done so with the arresting work of Libeskind at the ROM,†said William Thorsell, ROM Director and CEO.

Inspired by the ROM’s gem and mineral collection, Daniel Libeskind sketched the initial concept on paper napkins while attending a family wedding at the ROM. The design was quickly dubbed the 'crystal' because of its crystalline shape. "Why should one expect the new addition to the ROM to be 'business as usual'? Architecture in our time is no longer an introvert's business. On the contrary, the creation of communicative, stunning and unexpected architecture signals a bold re-awakening of the civic life of the museum and the city,†said Daniel Libeskind.

Considered to be one of the most challenging construction projects in North America for its engineering complexity and innovative methods, the Lee-Chin Crystal is composed of five interlocking, self-supporting prismatic structures that co-exist but are not attached to the original ROM building, except for the bridges that link them. The exterior is 25 per cent glass and 75 per cent extruded-brushed, aluminum-cladding strips in a warm silver colour. The steel beams, each unique in its design and manufacture and ranging from 1 to 25 metres in length, were lifted one by one to their specific angle, creating complicated angle joints, sloped walls, and gallery ceilings. Approximately 3,500 tons of steel and 38 tons of bolts were used to create the skeleton, and roughly 9,000 cubic metres of concrete were poured.

*** well if that ain't the kiss of death - citing an opera house with poor acoustics as a model - I don't know what is. - US

Meanwhile, the ROM's new Gallery of Gems and Gold previews for members on Friday December 18th at 10:00 am.
 
Something dawned on me today: that regardless of actual value judgment, the ROM Crystal is the ultimate Monstrous Carbuncle. It's, like, the ultimate built manifestation of an abstract concept first identified by Charlie Windsor circa 1984.

Maybe, in order to straddle the pro/con camps, we can take to cheekily referring to it as the Monstrous Carbuncle.

Now, as for the typical participants in such "10 ugliest" surveys, this piece probably rings real true...
http://www.city-journal.org/2009/19_4_otbie-le-corbusier.html
 
I have heard some other folks refer to the additon as a carbuncle. It sort of fits, doesn't it?

Well, something else has occurred to me: we Canadians are once again showing our timid side. In the States, there would have been a lawsuit, and a fairly large one at that, with the ROM outcome.

Recall the inception, observe the things that happened along the way, and then see the final product. Kind of ridiculous, don't you think?

Who to punish? How to punish? I think we should send Thorsell back to Edmonton. That's far worse than a lawsuit.
 
If ROM = a monstrous carbuncle, does Libeskind = the L-ephant Man?

Perhaps he actually got the idea for the ROM crystal not from the gem and mineral collection but from a flight into Toronto which may or may not have passed over Thom's Zoo crystals...
 

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